The present invention relates to a mobile control system for controlling moving bodies present in various places in various facilities, including plants, factories, workshops, offices, hospitals and schools, and particularly to a mobile control system capable of detecting the positions of workers present here and there in facilities and making an appropriate control.
In such facilities as plants and factories it is sometimes necessary to control whereabouts of workers working in the interior of the facilities. A typical example of such a control is an entrance/exit control. A simple method for controlling the entrance and exit is writing destinations on a destination bulletin board. However, this method involves the problem that it is not certain whether the workers who wrote the destinations are surely within their destination rooms or sites. There also is a problem such that it is impossible to cope with forgetting to write and subsequent changes.
According to another control method proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems, a card reader is installed at an entrance/exit of facilities and each person entering or leaving the facilities is required to insert his or her card into the card reader, whereby the control of personnel present within the facilities can be done in a concentrative manner. However, the need of inserting the card into the card reader at every entrance and exit is troublesome for the person entering or leaving the facilities. Particularly, in the case of facilities divided into a large number of sections, the card insertion is needed at every entrance or exit in each of the sections, which is troublesome and inconvenient.
For eliminating the above troublesomeness there has been proposed, for example, such a technique as is described in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No.Hei 8-329298 entitled xe2x80x9cEntrance/Exit Control System.xe2x80x9d The method described therein utilizes a radio technique to control the entrance and exit. According to this conventional method, the name of place stored in each relay station for entrance/exit control is stored, and when a person having a terminal device approaches the relay station, the relay station detects the ID of the terminal device by radio, and the name of the person corresponding to the terminal ID, as well as the name of the place stored in the relay station, are displayed on a central display unit. In this way a room control for the worker can be done even if the worker does nothing.
However, the above conventional method is a mere enrollment display method wherein the names of persons are listed up and respective destinations are displayed. Thus, the said method is not suitable for the purpose of grasping the layout of personnel at a glance. Besides, in the case of a site work of many workers as in a plant, the list becomes too large to write all the names of workers, that is, there arises the problem that it is impossible to see all the names at a glance.
Further, even when it is intended to make contact with a worker present in an interested site, or a site to be contacted, not a specific person, and with the use of the foregoing list, it is necessary to take the trouble to grasp who the workers present in the site are from the list of many workers, then decide with which worker contact is to be made, and contact the worker thus decided. Consequently, where many workers are working at many sites, there arises the problem that it is difficult to look up a worker present in a site to be contacted.
The above problems are true of not only personnel but also moving bodies which move in a specific area.
It is the first object of the present invention to provide a mobile control system capable of grasping the condition of layout at a glance and quickly indicating a related moving body from among a lot of moving bodies.
It is the second object of the present invention to provide a mobile control system capable of looking up an object of communication merely by designating a site and making communication quickly with the object thus picked out.
In order to achieve the above first object, according to the present invention, in the first aspect thereof, there is provided a mobile control system for controlling moving bodies located in a specific area, the mobile control system comprising:
a position sensor for detecting a current position or positions of one or more moving bodies located in the said specific area; and
a monitor system for displays a layout diagram of specific objects located in the said specific area and information symbolical of each of the moving bodies at positions in the said layout diagram being displayed, the said positions being determined on the basis of the current positions of the moving bodies detected by the said position sensor.
According to the present invention, in the second aspect thereof, there is provided a mobile control system for controlling moving bodies located in a specific area, the mobile control system comprising:
a position sensor for detecting a current position or positions of one or more moving bodies located in the said specific area; and
a monitor system which displays a layout diagram of specific objects located in the said specific area and which, upon receipt of an input indicating any of the displayed objects, checks whether there is any moving body in a predetermined region the current position of which moving body has been detected by the said position sensor, with respect to the indicated object, and if the said moving body is present, displays information symbolical of the moving body at a position in the said layout diagram being displayed, the said position. being determined on the basis of the current position of the moving body.
According to the present invention, in the third aspect thereof, there is provided a mobile control system for controlling moving bodies located in a specific area, the mobile control system comprising:
a position sensor for detecting a current position or positions of one or more moving bodies located in the said specific area; and
a monitor system which displays a layout diagram of specific objects located in the said specific area and which, upon receipt of an input indicating any area in said layout diagram, checks whether there is any moving body in the indicated area the current position of which moving body has been detected by the said position sensor, and if the said moving body is present, displays information symbolical of the moving body at a position in the said layout diagram being displayed which position is determined on the basis of the current position of the moving body.
In the above mobile control systems, the position sensor may comprise branch devices mounted respectively on the moving bodies and each having a peculiar identifier and master devices disposed at plural places in the said specific area to detect the identifiers of the branch devices when the branch devices are located within a detectable region.
The monitor system may be constructed so as to display a specific pattern as the information symbolical of each moving body. In connection with the said information, there may be conducted a processing to further display the name of the moving body concerned at a position adjacent to the specific pattern.
Further, according to the present invention, in the fourth aspect thereof, there is provided a mobile control system for controlling one or more moving bodies moving in a specific area, the mobile control system comprising:
a position sensor for detecting a current position or positions of one or more moving bodies located in the said specific area;
a display unit for displaying an image;
a memory unit which stores at least information necessary for displaying a layout diagram of specific objects located in the said specific area and information necessary for displaying the current positions of the moving bodies detected by the said position sensor;
a central information processing system which updates the information stored in the said memory unit on the basis of the current positions of the moving bodies detected by the said position sensor and which performs a processing for displaying on the said display unit the said layout diagram of the objects and the current positions of specific moving bodies; and
an input device for receiving directions for the central information processing system,
wherein the memory unit stores information indicative of positions of the objects included in the layout diagram, graphic information for displaying the layout diagram and related display position information, information indicative of the current positions of the detected moving bodies, graphic information symbolical of the moving bodies and related display position information, and
the central information processing system, upon receipt by the input device of an indication designating a specific object included in the layout diagram being displayed on the display unit, looks up moving bodies whose current positions lie in a predetermined region based on the current position of the designated object, and with respect to only the thus-retrieved moving bodies, performs a processing for displaying their symbolical patterns on the display unit at positions indicated by the display position information.
In order to achieve the foregoing second object, according to the present invention, in the fifth aspect thereof, there is provided, in combination with any of the mobile control systems in the above first to fourth aspects, a mobile control system wherein the moving bodies and the monitor system are each provided with a communication device for mutual communication, and the monitor system, upon receipt of directions of designating any of the patterns symbolical of the moving bodies, performs a processing for making communication through the communication device with the moving body symbolized by the designated pattern.
According to the present invention, in the sixth aspect thereof, there is provided, in combination with a mobile control system in any of the above first to fourth aspects, a mobile control system wherein the moving bodies and the monitor system are each provided with a communication device for mutual communication, and the monitor system performs a processing for displaying patterns symbolical of the objects in the layout diagram, and upon receipt of an indication designating a pattern symbolical of any of the said patterns, and if the current position of any of the moving bodies has been detected in a region predetermined on the basis of the object symbolized by the designated pattern, performs a processing for making communication with the moving body concerned through the said communication device.
As examples of the moving bodies in each of the above aspects of the present invention there are mentioned personnel such as workers who conduct various works in a specific area. A typical application example of the present invention is a personnel control system which is provided with a position sensor for detecting current positions of workers located in a specific area and which controls the workers on the basis of their position data, the personnel control system being characterized by having a display means for displaying, on a map of the said area, position information detected by the said position sensor.